GMAC BOWL -
December 22 (Wednesday) - 7:00 (CT)Bowling
Green
(8-3, 6-2 MAC) vs.
Memphis
(8-3, 5-3 C-
USA
)Television: ESPN (Mark Jones, Bob Davie,
Holly Rowe)
Site:
Mobile
,
Ala.
- Ladd Peebles Stadium (40,600/Field Turf)
Series: First Meeting.
Coaches: BG-Gregg Brandon (19-6, second season); UM-Tommy West (25-22, fourth
season at
Memphis
; 60-57, 10th season overall).
2004 Common Opponents: None
Nick’s Pick:BGSU 45 –
Memphis
41
Line:BGSU by 4.5
Comment:The Falcons have scored an incredible 57 TDs this season and average
502-yards per game.They have a very
bad taste in their mouth after losing a 20-point halftime lead against their
arch-rival,
Toledo
, to end the season.
Memphis
is a splendid team with balance but their defense is a little suspect giving up
over 400-yards per outing.The MAC
has never lost to Conference
USA
in a bowl game.The GMAC Bowl
is historically one of the most entertaining bowl games of the season.This year should be no different.Give
the nod to
Bowling Green
with their prolific offense in a thriller.

FORT WORTH BOWL
-December 23 (Thursday) - 7:00 (CT)Marshall
(6-5, 6-2 MAC) vs.
Cincinnati
(6-5, 5-3 C-
USA
) Television: ESPN (Sean McDonough, Craig
James, Heather Cox)
Site: Forth Worth,
Texas
- Amon G. Carter Stadium (44,088)
Series: UC leads 5-3-1 ... the Thundering Herd won the last meeting, 25-13 in
the 2000 Motor City Bowl played at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Mich ... that has
been the only meeting since 1946 ... UC was a MAC member from 1946-1952 and was
one of the founding MAC institutions.
Coaches: MAR-Bob Pruett (94-22, ninth season); UC-Mark Dantonio (6-5, first
season).
2004 Common Opponents: Both schools lost to
Ohio
State
-
Marshall
24-21 and UC 27-6 ... both teams beat
Miami
- Marshall 33-35 and UC 45-26.
Nick’s Pick:
Marshall
26 –
Cincinnati
21
Line:Cincy by 1
Comment:Both of these teams have had disappointing seasons compared to their
preseason aspirations.
Marshall
nearly beat
Ohio
State
and
Georgia
on the road but where blown out at BGSU and lost at
Akron
.Cincy has been a real hard to
figure with blow-out victories over
Memphis
, Southern Miss & Miami (O) and blow-out losses to Army and
Louisville
.
Marshall
has a better defense and the mindset of “playing for championships,” which
includes bowl games.
Marshall
should pull this game out and give the MAC another victory over a Conference
USA
school.

MOTOR CITY BOWL
- December 27 (Monday) - 5:30 (ET)Toledo
(9-3, 7-1 MAC) vs.
Connecticut
(7-4, 3-3 Big East) Television: ESPN (Sean McDonough, Craig
James, Heather Cox)
Site:
Detroit
,
Mich.
- Ford Field (65,000/Artifical Surface, Indoors)
Series: First meeting.
Coaches: UT-Tom Amstutz (36-14, fourth season); UConn-Randy Edsall (31-36, sixth
season).
2004 Common Opponents: Both schools beat
Temple
-
Toledo
45-17, UConn45-31.
Nick’s Pick:
Toledo
34 – UConn 21
Line:
Toledo
by 3
Comment:The Rockets have played very good football with three straight wins over
quality opponents by dominating the second half of play.Unfortunately for
Toledo
, they will be missing the battering ram, 6-foot 240-pound Scooter McDougle at
tailback.UConn has had lots of
success against the lower-echelon of the MAC beating
Buffalo
,
Akron
,
Kent
State and
Western Michigan
over the past two seasons.The
Huskies have a terrific QB but
Toledo
’s defense has improved a lot since the beginning of the season.This is the first bowl game ever for the Huskies while
Toledo
is playing in their third MCB and 9th bowl game overall.

INDEPENDENCE BOWL -
December 28 (Tuesday) - 5:30 (ET)Miami
(8-4, 7-1 MAC) vs.
Iowa
State
(6-5, 4-4 Big 12) Television: ESPN (Dave Barnett, Bill Curry,
David Norrie, Alex Flanagan)
Site:
Shreveport
,
La.
-
Independence
Stadium (53,000)
Series: First meeting.Coaches: MIA-Terry Hoeppner (48-24, fifth season);
ISU-Dan McCarney (44-72, 10th season)
2004 Common Opponents: None.
Nick’s Pick:
Miami
37 –
Iowa
State 21
Line:
Miami
by 3
Comment:
Iowa
State
had an impressive four-game winning streak late in the year and nearly won the
Big-12 North.The offense however
has not been very good for the season and they have recorded just 22 TDs.Miami’s offense has been explosive at times and they played a rugged
schedule with road trips to Michigan, Cincy,
Marshall
and
Detroit
to play
Toledo
in the MACC.In a game like this
you look at who wants it more and certainly
Miami
has an edge in this category.The
RedHawks should roll.

SILICON VALLEY
CLASSIC - December 30 (Thursday) - 8:00 (PT)Northern
Illinois (8-3, 7-1 MAC) vs.
Troy
(7-4, 5-2 Sun Belt)
Television: ESPN (Pam Ward, Mike Tomczak, Dave Ryan)
Site:
San Jose
,
Calif.
- Spartan Stadium (28,867/Natural Grass)
Series: First meeting.
Coaches: NIU-Joe Novak (46-55, ninth season); Troy-Larry Blackney (115-52-1,
14th season)
2004 Common Opponents: None.
Nick’s Pick:NIU 24 – Troy 14
Line:NIU by 1
Comment:While the average fan may not look at this match-up as very appealing,
any person with knowledge of college football knows that these are two good
football teams.Over the past three
years NIU has beaten
Wake Forest
,
Maryland
,
Iowa
State
and
Alabama
while
Troy
has beaten
Missouri
and Marshall (twice).Each program
is giddy over any bowl opportunity and will be prepared well to play.NIU’s offense is better than the men of
Troy
by an average of 446 to 283 in the ‘yards per game’ category.Look for NIU to run the ball well and use some play-action passes to get
their first bowl victory since the 1983
California
Bowl.

===================================================

MAC
Championship Game

Toledo (8-3, 7-1 MAC) at Miami (8-3, 7-1) - 7:35
(ET) kickoff
Television: ESPN (Mike Tirico, play-by-play; Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso,
analysts; Jill Arrington, sideline)
Site: Ford Field - Detroit, Mich. (65,000)
Series: Miami leads 42-27-2 ... the RedHawks have won the previous three
meetings, including a 23-16 game on Nov. 2 at Yager Stadium in Oxford, Ohio ...
Miami has handed Toledo its only home loss in the last 30 games on the Rockets'
home field at the Glass Bowl ... UT's last win vs. Miami was in 1997 (35-28 at
Toledo).Coaches: UT-Tom Amstutz (35-14 fourth year); MIA-Terry Hoeppner (48-23,
fifth season).Designation: Miami is the designated home team.

Last Meeting: On Nov. 2 via an ESPN2 audience,
in an election night special, the RedHawks forced four Rocket turnovers en route
to a 23-16 win ... the RedHawks broke a 16-16 tie on a one-yard touchdown run by
Luke Clemens with 14:56 left in the fourth quarter ... Clemens rushed for a
game-high 94 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries ... Miami QB Josh Betts was
successful on 24 of 41 pass attempts (.585 pct.) for 295 yards ... nine of
Betts' passes ended up in the hands of Ryan Robinson, who totaled 146 yards on
the receiving end ... Toledo QB Bruce Gradkowksi completed 23 of 36 attempts
(.638 pct.) for 203 yards a touchdown and an interception ... Lance Moore also
had nine receptions for 104 yards ... Toledo had three runners with 45 or more
yards - Scooter McDougle (68), Kenny Higgins (53) and Trinity Dawson (45) ...
both team's defense had four sacks with two for Miami's Alphonso Hodge.

Championship Rematch: This will be the fourth
time in the eight years of MAC Championship game history that a regular season
rematch will be featured in the title contest. Previous year rematches are: Year
Regular Season Result Championship Result 1999 Marshall 31, @W. Michigan 17 <@Marshall
34, Western Michigan 30>
2000 W. Michigan 30, @Marshall 10 <@Marshall 19, Western Michigan
14>
2003 @Miami 33, Bowling Green 10 <Miami 49, @Bowling Green 27>
2004 @Miami 23, Toledo 16 <Miami vs. Toledo (@Detroit)>

Championship History: Toledo is appearing in its
fifth MAC Championship game, one short of the league record of six held by
Marshall ... The Rockets won the title in 2001, beating Marshall 41-36 ... The
Thundering Herd topped the Rockets on three occasions - 1997 (34-13), 1998
(23-17) and 2002 (49-45) ... Miami's only MAC Championship game appearance was
last year vs. BGSU.

Quick Notes:
-The game features two of the league's top scoring offense - Toledo at 35.2 ppg
and Miami at 33.4 ppg.
-Miami leads the league in sacks with 37 while Toledo has allowed the third
least amount of sacks (14).
-The starting QBs rank second and third, respectively, in the MAC in passing
efficiency with Toledo's Bruce Gradkowski at 162.2 (256 of 363, 3,224 yards, 23
TDs and 7 int.) and Miami's Josh Betts at 141.3 (227 of 365, 2,951 yards, 19
TDs, 11 int.).
-Toledo's leading rusher, Quinton Broussard, is averaging only 50.7 ypg, yet the
Rockets as a team are third in the MAC in rushing yards with 166.1 ypg.
-Miami tops the league in rushing defense, allowing 101.8 ypg.
-In the "hidden yards" stats, Miami has a MAC best 21.8 average on
kickoff return and the league's top return man in Korey Kirkpatrick (28.4 ypr).
-The RedHawk's Ryne Robinson has two punt returns for TDs this year and a MAC
record five in his career.

Nick's
Pick Toledo 38 - Miami 27
Line:
Miami by 2
Comment: Toledo had four
turnovers and nearly won at Miami last month. No one in the MAC is playing
better football at this point in time than Toledo. The Rockets score
early and hold off Miami in the 4th period for their second MACC win in five
tries.

Nick’s
Picks for Week #13

#24
Bowling Green
at
ToledoTuesday night, November
23, 2004, 7pm, ESPN2
Glass Bowl Stadium (26,248)
BGSU leads the overall series 36-28-4; home team has won six straight in this
series.
Toledo
:Tom Amstutz is 34-14 in his 4th
season – BG’s Gregg Brandon is 19-5 in his second season.
Annual trophy is called “The Peace Pipe” (since 1980) for the winner of this
rivalry which began in 1919.

Notes:

Toledo
is 5-7 overall against ranked opponents and 29-1 at home in their last 30
home contests.

In
most MAC offensive statistical categories, BG ranks first with
Toledo
ranking second.

BGSU
QB Omar Jacobs continues to lead the nation with 32 TD passes and 21.6
points responsible for per game. He also is second in the nation in total
offense (348.0) and passing yards per game (322.0). He also is third in the
country in pass efficiency (172.4) and fifth in completions per game at
24.7.

As
a team, the Falcons are second in the nation in passing offense (327.7),
fourth in total offense (496.4) and scoring (43.9), fifth in turnover margin
(+1.3) and pass efficiency (170.1), 20th in pass efficiency defense (107.8),
and 23rd in scoring defense (19.8). BGSU leads the MAC in all of those team
rankings.

Comment:I like
Bowling Green
to win the game, but history dictates that the home team gets the upper hand.Over the past 21 seasons, the home team has 17 times.In a rivalry this heated and close, pick the home team in a minor upset.

Nick’s
Pick:
Toledo
35 – BG 28
Line:BG by 4.5

Kent
State at UCFDate: Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Time: 7:00 p.m. EST
Stadium:
Florida
Citrus Bowl (70,000)
Site:
Orlando
,
Florida
Doug Martin is in his first season as the head coach at
Kent
State
. He was the team’s offensive coordinator in 2003 and was previously an
assistant coach at East Carolina,
East
Tennessee
State
, and
Kentucky
. George O’Leary is in his first season at UCF. He compiled a 52-33 mark in
six years at Georgia Tech.

Notes:

Kent
State
looks for its fourth-straight win to close the 2004 season.The Golden Flashes set a school record by scoring 69 points in a
69-17 victory over
Eastern Michigan
last week scoring nine touchdowns and totaled 575 yards of offense.

The
three-game winning streak by KSU is the first since October of 2001. The
Golden Flashes are looking for their first four-game winning streak since
closing out the 1976 season with five straight victories.

UCF
is looking for its first win of the season. The Golden Knights (0-10, 0-7
MAC) nearly ended their streak last week before falling at
Ball
State
Ohio
University
, 21-17.

The
Golden Knights also dropped the final four games of the 2003 season,
extending their losing skid to 14 games. Their last win was a 31-13 victory
over
Central Michigan
on Oct. 25, 2003.

This
is just the third all-time meeting between the two schools, with UCF holding
a 2-1 advantage. UCF won the first two meetings (59-43 in 1997 and 32-6 in
2002) before
Kent
State
picked up a 36-16 victory last season.

Comment:The Golden Flashes have saved their best play for the end of the season
with Josh Cribbs playing terrific football and the defense making tremendous
strides.UCF is looking to close out
a terrible season and build some momentum as they move to Conference
USA
.
Kent
State
is a team playing with a purpose and should win.